Defense

General Bipin Rawat– who is serving a rare full three year term as the Indian Army Chief after he superseded two officers in 2016 – is likely to get a term of over two years as the CDS, which will largely see the creation of a new structure to provide military advise to the government and implement joint procurement by the three services.

It is the 11th anniversary of the 26/11 attacks and one cannot not remember Takaram Omble’s sacrifice on this day. The Indian Police foundation tweeted about him with the caption, ‘Constable Tukaram Omble : Your valour will never be forgotten. Overpowering a heavily armed terrorist, even after getting seriously injured. But for you, Terrorist Kasab would not have been apprehended & brought to justice. Salutes’.

Aware of Pakistani plans, the Indian Army again retaliated effectively and thwarted Pakistani plot to regain their lost posts twice during the day today. Though there was no official word, at least three Pakistan army personnel were reported to have been killed and two others injured in the Indian retaliation.
Heavy exchange of firing between the two sides continued for about two hours in the morning, reports said, adding that there were no casualties or damage on the Indian side.

Since 2015, the relationship between the two countries has deepened to encompass military cooperation across all three services of the armed forces, defence technology cooperation as well as cooperation through multilateral engagements. The two nations have also signed a letter of intent that concludes a memorandum of understanding to allow the use of the test range.

On the agenda is an order for about 21,000 night-sights for assault rifles. The cost – Rs 1600 crores. Night-sights are particularly important for the infantry; soldiers having had to face major attacks in the early hours of the morning on various occasions, including BAT attacks on posts on the LoC by groups comprising terrorists and Pakistan Army commandos.

Naval Exercise ‘Milan 2020’ is scheduled to be held at Vishakhapatnam in March 2020, for which 41 countries have been invited. The Government pursues cooperation initiatives with friendly foreign countries through structured interactions like staff talks and Empowered Steering Groups. The areas of cooperation include capacity building, marine domain awareness, training, hydrography, technical assistance, and operational exercises.

These women officers are undergoing a four-week long course which started from 25 November will end on December 21. During this period the ANA women officers will undergo physical training, drills, weapon training, tactical training, military leadership, human resources management, and computer training told the officer quoted above.

Havildar Sangram Keshari Jena of Jajpur district attached to ”Daredevils” motorcycle display team of Indian Army Corps of Signals made the attempt at Head Quarters 1 Signal Training Centre in Madhya Pradesh’s Jabalpur city on November 15. The 33-year-old rode while standing on an 11-feet ladder with his back to the direction in which the motorcycle was moving. Jena completed the manoeuvre in four hours, 29 minutes and 45 seconds, covering a distance of 128 km.

India and France became strategic partners in 1998 and it is important to remember that France was one of the few countries which did not come down heavily on India in the aftermath of its nuclear tests in the same year. Under President Macron, France has been playing an active role in the international arena and earlier this year it extended a special invitation to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the G-7 Summit in Biarritz, France.